May 2015 Board Meeting

On May 27, the Tazewell County Board held its regular monthly meeting.  While many items were approved as part of the consent agenda, several bids for bituminous road surface treatments throughout the county were pulled for further discussion.

In short, the numbers on the bids came in higher than expected, so they were rejected with the hope that subsequent bidding will bring in lower, more efficient numbers.

The Board also, among other things:

1) Approved an agreement for a substitute Hearing Officer for the Code Hearing Unit when needed;

2) Approved the purchase of network and email licensing for employees; and

3) Approved of the auction of surplus county property.

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On Friday, May 29, County Administrator Wendy Ferrill and I met with Travis Sterling, the Outreach Coordinator for the office of Senator Mark Kirk. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss general issues facing Tazewell County, and we appreciate Senator Kirk and his staff reaching out to units of government throughout the state to talk about matters of importance and to see how his office can be of assistance.

While we talked about numerous topics, the main focus of our conversation was infrastructure and transportation.  We explained our commitment to keeping the roads and bridges of the County safe, and Mr. Sterling welcomed the idea of us creating a list of local projects that may need additional funding from the federal level (whether through a "TIGER" grant or as part of a federal transportation capital bill).  Once we have a list together, we can reassess how Senator Kirk's office can help our efforts (e.g., letter of support, assistance with grant writing, etc.).